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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

sports

Goalie glad to be back in Indiana

Coaches surprised,pleased transfer came out for team

Charlie Pulley is the only transfer goalie for the hockey team, fighting for playing time against three seasoned Hoosier veterans. He is the only sophomore competing against three seniors. He also started the Hoosiers' first game this season.\nPulley transferred to IU in August. A native of Carmel, Ind., he started playing hockey at an early age for an in-house team before joining a traveling team at age 12.\n"I made the team as a right defenseman," Pulley said. "They didn't have a goaltender, so I volunteered myself to go out there and learn trial by fire."\nPulley later manned the net for two seasons at Park Tudor High School near Indianapolis, bringing home two state championships with future Hoosiers Bryan Grant and Brandon Phillips, both now juniors. He then completed high school in Cleveland, where he played Junior B and, eventually, Junior A national hockey leagues.\nThe August after completing high school in Cleveland, Pulley was faced with a decision: either play another year of Junior A hockey or choose a college.\n"I decided I just didn't want to play Junior A again," Pulley said. "Junior A is fun when you want to play, but once you get past that point, when you stick it out another year, you're going to wear out."\nPulley called Bob Zion, who had recently accepted a job as the Eastern Michigan University hockey coach. Zion suggested Pulley enroll at Eastern Michigan.\n"My first visit to the campus was the day I showed up to go to class," Pulley said. "I didn't have a place to live. I met two kids at a picnic, showed up, knocked on their door and stayed on their couch for the first five weeks."\nPulley became the starting goalie for Eastern Michigan. In his rookie season, Pulley helped the Eagles compile a 27-11-3 record, which included a trip to the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division I finals, where Penn State snuck past the Eagles in overtime.\nAlthough Pulley was comfortable with the Eastern Michigan hockey team, he said the campus environment left little to be desired.\n"I enjoyed the hockey from the beginning, but I knew that, in going to school, it wasn't what I was looking for," Pulley said. "I did the best I could there for the year, then in the summer re-evaluated what I wanted to do."\nPulley said a variety of factors influenced his decision to come to Bloomington, but hockey wasn't necessarily one of them.\n"I was looking for a good college that was in-state," Pulley said. "I was pretty happy with IU because I'd been down here. The business school, which is something I want to do, was top-notch. Having that resource available in-state made my decision pretty easy."\nAlthough it was surprised by his decision, the IU hockey team was happy to welcome Pulley to try out.\n"We don't do a lot of active recruiting, and we certainly don't recruit other teams' players," coach Rich Holdeman said. "It was a pleasant surprise having a guy of his caliber wanting to show up down here."\nWhile the hockey team welcomed Pulley to join its lineup, his addition to the squad did create a unique problem.\n"It's very difficult because we have four (goalies) that are all good enough to play for our team," Holdeman said. "We know that it's going to be impossible to keep everyone happy."\nBut the goalies aren't too upset with the situation.\n"It definitely makes us work a lot harder," senior goalie Justin Wojtowicz said. "I have to go and work as hard as I can because there are three other goalies there working as hard as they can.\n"Charlie's a great goalie. I like working with him a lot in practice. Our last road trip, all four of us even roomed together."\nPulley said he feels he made the right decision in transferring to IU, even if he has to wait his turn for playing time.\n"I decided before I tried out that if I didn't make the team and it was the year I had to sit out a lot, just participating (in the IU hockey program) would be better than doing something else," Pulley said. "Regardless of the playing time"

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